I don' t know how helpful that can be, but I read in a comic book about extreme sports that skateboarders who eventually decide to get rid of the old pair of shoes they used to skateboard with and get new ones hang their old pair of shoes to stuff (wires, lampposts, etc...) to leave their mark in their district.

The explanation I heard when I was little was that there was someone nearby that wanted sex, and they would throw a pair of old shoes up there to say that they lived somewhere nearby. You could tell if it was a boy or girl and what kind of sports they liked or if they were a preppie by the kind of shoes.

Most of the ones I remember seeing were probably from teenage boys. I'm not sure anyone ever told the girls about this though.

I don' t know how helpful that can be, but I read in a comic book about extreme sports that skateboarders who eventually decide to get rid of the old pair of shoes they used to skateboard with and get new ones hang their old pair of shoes to stuff (wires, lampposts, etc...) to leave their mark in their district.

Interesting: there is a tree next to the little skate park in our town, and it is indeed festooned with skate shoes. I only noticed it earlier this year, and the parl itself has only been there a few years.

I've never thought much about the shoes-over-wires thing except in the film 'Big Fish' when the little girl steals the man's shoes and throws them over a cable. I'd seen the in old photos etc. and I thought they must have symbolised that you were settling in the town - i.e. you don't have any shoes so you can't leave. :P Anyone else used to think this or did I just read to much into it!